Re: Artificial Primary keys

On Mon, 28 Jan 2002 21:43:10 +0000, Bernard Peek <bap_at_shrdlu.com> wrote:

[snip-a-lot]
>Of course. But you should only choose a surrogate after establishing
>that there is no usable natural key.

IN discussions, I find it useful to distinguish surrogate keys from artificial keys. I call a surrogate key a substitute for a candidate key--that's kind of bound up in the meaning of "surrogate" in English. An artificial key is, umm, artificial. It's what some designers might use in the absence of a candidate key.

-- 
Mike Sherrill
Information Management Systems